Goodbye Mr. Carlson

Gordon Jump, the actor who played Mr. Carlson in WKRP in Cinn. died the other day. He also played the lonely Maytag repairman in the commercials for maytag. Some may even remember him as Pief of Cholice Tinkler for the show Soap.

I'd agree that it is difficult to imagine anyone else in that role, but I'd say that Mr. Carlson was more befuddled than clueless. There were moments when the fog cleared momentarily and he'd make an asute comment, totally unexpected from him and all the more effective IMO because of that. He was a softy but when push came to shove he knew people pretty well.